Ferry Schedule Options

It has been brought to the attention of the FAC, that there may be some confusion on what options are currently available for endorsement as a local resident. There are 3 options.

 

A link to the options; 

 

http://www.bcferries.com/about/publicconsultation2/2014_service_Level_adjustments/schedule_options_rt20.html

 

1. The Province's: Eliminates the late Fri eve sailing, and the 6:20pm/6:50 Chem-Thetis dedicated sailing.

It begs to be said, that on the BC Ferries survey, they refer to the 6:50pm ferry sailing as the 6:35pm.

 

2. Option 1: Removes the 6:20pm/6:50pm Chem-Thetis dedicated sailing, and spreads out the 7:25 and 8:15 sailings to fill the gap. It also advances the last sailing, to make the last sailing from Chemainus 9:35pm.

 

3. Option 2: has many more changes, and really needs to be viewed. There is a copy on the BC Ferries site. Essentially, it eliminates the6:20pm/6:50 Chem-Thetis dedicated sailing, and has the last Chemainus departure at 9:40pm.

There are the same number of crossings with both options 1 and 2.

 

There is also another option available. We are calling it the 'Route 20 Community Option.'

 

There was some information and clarification in the past, that there was not an opportunity for further discussion and community/FAC proposed schedule plan. I am now officially confirming that there is a 4th option. We have confirmation with the BC Ferries representatives, that if we can rally community support for a viable schedule, they will review it and the meeting of 03 Mar 14, will shed more light on where it will go from there.

 

Later on Fri 21 Feb 14, I will toss out another espokes with the 'Route 20 Community Option' schedule. We will attempt to have it available in many formats. Along with the schedule, will be a narrative to support the changes and guide your introduction, and a fact sheet, comparing the current schedule, options 1&2, and of course, Route 20 Community Option.

 

We have the support in principal from Penelakut Band, and are awaiting their official Council vote. They just had Council elections on the 19th, so they're a little busy, however they are aware of the time restrictions.

 

The plan so far is to submit the  Route 20 Community Option to BC Ferries, no later than the morning of Wed, 26 Feb 14 . That will give the BCF think tank 3 full working days to complete their initial viability assessment.

 

To achieve the Wed deadline, we need to rally the support of the community. The FAC will conduct an official presentation of the Route 20 Community Option schedule, Monday 24 Feb and/or Tuesday 25 Feb. Exact timings etc to follow.

 

In the mean time, I would encourage Thetis Islanders to complete the BC Ferries on-line survey, and give them your opinions and make your choice. The outcome of our proposed schedule will likely not be affected by the surveys being conducted by the BC Ferries.

 

If you have seen the schedule and would like to endorse it right away, the Thetis FAC have created a dedicated email to accept your approval and thoughts. The email is;

 

r20commopt@gmail.com

 

I am available for questions; hunter@imembers.ca

 

Sincerely,

 

Art Hunter

FAC Chemainus-Thetis-Penelakut

hunter@imembers.ca

250-533-9327 

 

A Little Bit About our New Islander, Peggy Thompson

Most seem to know that our sister, Peggy, has bought Sandy Alexandre's property. Who is she besides Ann & Kathleen's older sister & multiple Genie Award winner? Here's a little article to introduce her to you.

http://www.kerrisdalevillagenews.com/ubc-prof-always-been-crazy-for-celluloid/

Ann Dickie

Ferry Schedule Information Session

Ferry Information Session:  Schedule Options 1 and 2

Date: Thursday, February  20th, 2014

Time: 4-5PM

Maximum 1 Hour Session

Community Hall

 

Captain Bill Dickie has kindly offered to give an information session regarding the history and background for the Options 1 and 2 Sailing Schedules.

 

To reiterate: This is an Informational Session only, to help clarify some misconceptions regarding these two options and how, these Options were put forth.

This session will be for information only and to assist with educating our community with Options 1 and 2 .

Hopefully, this brief session will clear-up some confusion related to the schedule sailing options.

 

Apologies for short notice

 

Steve Frankel

Some Background on the Schedule Refinements ~

I want to make it clear right at the outset that I am not writing this in any official capacity, but just as a very interested resident, property owner, and ferry customer.

My understanding of the process at this point (subject to correction if needed) is that the Ministry’s schedule adjustments were a way of achieving their desired cost savings, but these are not the only way that the changes could be implemented.

If one refers to the Ministry’s original document, distributed at the consultation meeting on Thetis, it did not mention retaining/not retaining the present last round trip sailing time and finish time. It appeared to show all of the later PM sailings moved earlier to fill the gap due to the deletion of the 1820/1850 sailing, but did not specify the time. The website appears to say that the un-numbered Ministry option would not change the timing of the last round trip.

The two other options that are “refinements" are designed to achieve the same cost savings, while making the resulting schedule meet the needs of the Route 20 customers as much as possible.

Option 1 is very simple. The PM “Thetis only” 1820/1850 sailing is eliminated, and all of the subsequent sailings are moved earlier to fill the gap, making the last round trip and the finish time earlier.

Option 2 includes exactly the same changes in the PM sailings, except for a few minutes difference in some sailing times: (1820/1850 sailing eliminated, all subsequent sailings are moved earlier to fill the gap, making the last round trip and the finish time earlier). In addition, there are changes in the order of some of the AM sailings to address traffic patterns and reduce the impact of the gaps in the schedule for both islands.

All of the changes in option 2 (except for the earlier time for the last sailing) were generated right here at Route 20, and all of them were presented to the FAC for this route at a well-attended FAC meeting on December 11^th, 2011. During that meeting, the rationale behind every proposed change was explained to the FAC members. It was also explained that not all of the changes were interdependent. The FAC could pick and choose the ones that they felt at broad support. At the end of the meeting, the members made a commitment to go back to their respective communities and discuss the possible changes, and come back to BC Ferries with their proposed schedule changes.

Unfortunately, very shortly after that meeting, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure put a hold on any schedule discussions on any route, pending the Ministry’s review of the entire BC Ferries system.

So, here is your chance to pick one of the options, or to pick parts of the options. BC Ferries will be meeting with the FAC prior to the final schedule decisions being made. Be sure to fill out the questionnaire - including comments on any particular part that you strongly like/dislike - and also let the FAC members know what you think.

Bill Dickie

From the Survey...

On November 18, 2013, the provincial government announced plans to achieve $14 million net savings from the coastal ferry service network through sailing reductions across 16 routes serviced by BC Ferries.  This was followed by engagement sessions across the affected communities, and the government has now confirmed their final decision on the reductions.

Therefore, BC Ferries will implement these service reductions and has developed schedule options that will achieve the savings targets for each route identified by the government. The new schedules will be in effect as of April 28th, 2014. BC Ferries is seeking public opinion regarding these schedule options. 

Province Option

BC Ferries Option 1

BC Ferries Option 2

Change for Change's Sake?

I have noticed recently in a variety of venues that people sometimes make changes, simply for the sake of making them.  In the current options facing Thetis Islanders,  it appears that the Ferries Option 2 appears to be tinkering massively with the schedule simply because they can, without fully understanding the ramifications from their offices in Victoria. 

Unfortunately none of the options incorporate either of the Thetis grown ideas that were developed with much thought and carefully on several occasions to the government agencies involved in deciding our ferry schedule…the idea of triangle runs, or the idea of dropping a run or two and going more slowly.   So we are left without a really good option and will be forced to choose from the three before us. 

The Provincial option leaves us with a mostly intact schedule that incorporates equitable school runs (one short and one long run for each island), retains later ferries in the evenings for travellers from the mainland and theater/dinner goers and retains the option of morning or full days offisland through the retention of regular sailing to Thetis Island throughout the day.  It does, however create a concern for the 6:20 commuters.  If this option is chosen with comments added to make the 5:00 a little later and the 7:25 a little earlier, even the commuters can be accommodated and we have a simple solution that causes minimal disruption.  Following the KISS principle, this bears serious consideration.

Ferries Option 1 is similar, and leaves us with our current functioning ferry schedule through most of the day,  and incorporates  all the benefits of option 1 above EXCEPT there is no longer a 1020 pm ferry.  Hmm, seems we lose some versatility amongst our access options with this option. 

Ferries Option 2 creates the concerns of  longer travel times for Thetis students, no 1020 pm ferry, and inadvertently creates a long window right in the middle of the day where it is impossible to get home after a morning of shopping/medical/errands.  The 1140 run is too early to be useful to Thetis residents doing errands offisland,  yet the return run is a popular run for Penelakut to travel to Chemainus.  The 1245 is extremely well utilized so there appears to be no reason to move it significantly, yet that is what will happen if option 2 is implemented.  It will switch the 1140 Penelakut direct run with the 1245 triangle.    This appears to be an attempt at a triangle type schedule, and yet it is not…it simply tinkers by flipping round trips with direct trips with no real benefit for residents.   In the case of the 1140 and 1245 runs it appears to benefit no one, except perhaps a handful of commercial vehicles (maybe) at the inconvenience of a larger number of residents and tourists.  In summer, the 1245 on Friday is the start of the weekend commuter traffic, which will now have to cram onto the next ferry along with whatever additional traffic has arrived in the interim, creating even heavier and later backlogs on Friday afternoon and evenings.  With the necessary addition of a litany of comments to equalize the student’s travel time, comments to to revert the 1140 and 1245 runs to their previous order this option appears to be convoluted and may require require several comments to achieve the results presented by the simplicity of the government option and option 1. 

As Thetis Islanders, understanding the options before us is a challenge, and I hope that my thoughts on this matter, along with Veronica’s mapping out the options before us will be helpful to some.

Carol Swann

Graphic of Ferry Schedule Options

Click here to review the options in a familiar ferry schedule format.

Thanks to Veronica for putting this together.

Further Clarification on BC Ferries Schedule Opinion Poll

After recent conversations with some islanders, it appears many residents aren’t aware that we CAN vote for the Province’s Option on the BC Ferries opinion survey.  Once you go into the survey they are presenting us with 3 options to vote/comment on, not just Option 1 or Option 2.  The Province’s version which is basically our existing schedule minus the late run on Friday night and the 6:20 pm daily sailing to Thetis,  would still maintain our later night final sailing arriving to Thetis at 11:05.    We all have different priorities in a schedule and popular opinion poll will hopefully have some influence over the Corp. however limiting our daytime access for lengthy periods and shortening our last daily sailing by 45 mins making it almost impossible to still enjoy dinner and a movie, will definitely be taken into consideration by prospective purchasers for Thetis Island. 

 

I just wanted to reiterate that you have 3 choices in schedule – The Province’s, BC Ferries Option 1, BC Ferries Option 2.  Please go to the BC Ferries website and comment by the 21st.

 

Deb Wilson

Yoga Hours

This week there will be no evening yoga class on Wednesday; however, next week I will offer Wednesday’s class for free7:00-8:30 to celebrate and share my new learning, as this weekend I am furthering my education with Yin Yoga Teacher Training at YogaWeyr in Nanaimo, so excited to embrace this gentle, joint opening style of yoga.  Slow, long holds to open tight spaces gently.

I am looking to change this class to Monday night to see if that is a better fit for anyone, do you have any feedback for me.  Would you like to come, but the time doesn’t work?  Email or call me, Dawn at 250-246-9212.

Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-11:00 come and join us for $10 a session, great deal, great for your golf game, gardening, skiing – all these fun activities go great with a flexible, strong body.

See you soon.

Warmly, Dawn Gordon

250-210-0826

Dawn_gordon@telus.net

Gardening with Native Plants

A free workshop with native plant gardening specialist, Pat Johnston

Date: Sunday, February 23 

Time: 1:30 pm

Place: Forbes Community Hall

Join Pat Johnston for a presentation on Native Plant Gardening.  Pat will talk about the benefits of using native plants on our properties, show photographs of native plants, discuss how to garden with native plants as well as show photographs of native plant gardens.  Pat likes to work informally so come prepared to ask questions and discuss the joys of gardening with native plants.

Pat is a Native Plant Gardening Consultant who for the past fourteen years has been helping private and public gardeners incorporate native plants into their landscapes.  She has also partnered with Victoria Capital Regional District’s Water Department, Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary and other community organizations to facilitate over 200 Native Plant Gardening Workshops.  Pat, along with other gardeners, developed a native plant demonstration garden in her own yard and works in various native plant gardens in the Victoria region.  Pat’s passion about our native flora inspires others to want to use them in our gardens.

For more information contact Ann Eriksson at 250-246-8176 or email ThINC@thetisisland.net

Sponsored by the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy

Clarification of Option 1 & Option 2 Ferry Schedules

After reading a recent Editorial comment from e-spokes, I went to the BC Ferries website.  It’s understandable that the website causes confusion, as it is not clear that Option 2 does, in fact, include the changes in Option 1. 

Option 2 should have the description of Option 1 added to it because it could give people, that don’t read the entire schedule, the impression that Option 2 does not include the changes shown and described in Option 1. 

Please note that Option 2 includes those schedule changes shown and described in Option 1.

e-spokes Feb 15/14 “Editors Note:  Option 1 achieves the 2 most important objectives of protecting fair travel time for our students and preserving the 6:20 commuter run for residents working off island.   Option 2 allows for comments requesting fair travel time but does not guarantee this.”

Bill Dickie

Soup's On ~ Wednesday February 19th

Forbes Hall 11:30AM ~ 1:00PM or 'til we run out!

Menu:

French Onion Soup

Focaccia Bread

Assorted Goodies

Tea & Pot of Gold Coffee

$5 Minimum Donation

See you Wednesday.

For more information on Soup's On, click here.